The invention relates to a pressure regulator for a fuel supply unit of a motor vehicle, with a valve for joining a connection to an outlet above a designated pressure in the connection, with a valve body and a valve seat, and with a spring element for prestressing the valve body against the valve seat.
Pressure regulators of this type are frequently used in motor vehicles nowadays to regulate a pressure in a forward flow line leading to an internal combustion engine, and are known from practice. The valve body is generally designed as a ball and provides a seal in relation to the valve seat below a designated pressure. The outlet is arranged on that side of the valve seat which lies opposite the connection. Above the designated pressure, the ball is raised from the valve seat by the pressure in the connection such that fuel can flow to the outlet. For the required tightness, the ball has to have particularly precise dimensions and a surface with as little surface roughness as possible. The ball is therefore generally polished or lapped.
A drawback of the known pressure regulator is that it requires a very complicated manufacturing process to produce the valve body. Furthermore, the valve body, which is designed as a ball, requires complicated guidance in the pressure regulator.
The invention is based on the problem of designing a pressure regulator of the type mentioned at the beginning in such a manner that it is constructed in a particularly simple manner structurally and is cost-effective to manufacture.